EXCLUSIVE: Hillary fears Trump 'having his finger on the nuclear button' but 1. There is no button (it's a 'football') and 2. It was Bill Clinton who risked nuclear annihilation when he lost the authentication codes

The 'nuclear football' has secure phone capabilities and options for launching nuclear strikes

The president may authorize launches by talking with the Pentagon and using codes to verify his identity after the case has been opened

Bill Clinton once lost the authentication codes for months, risking nuclear annihilation of America

In case the president is incapacitated or has died, an identical nuclear football is assigned to the vice president

Military aides who carry the satchels are supposed to accompany the two leaders wherever they go, including flights and hotels

The military aide sleeps in an underground bunker at the White House

Under what is called the National Security System, five military aides rotate the duty of carrying the nuclear football for the president

The Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, and Coast Guard each assign an aide

Another five military aides take turns traveling with the vice president

Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, is the New York Times bestselling author of The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents and In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire

Those who don't want Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear button may be in for a surprise: The nuclear button does not exist.

Trump 'shouldn't have his finger on the button', Hillary Clinton said about the Republican presidential candidate in Columbus, Ohio, in June.

But not only is there no button to allow the president to unleash nuclear weapons, contrary to popular myth, there are no codes used by the president to accomplish such a strike.

Instead, the president is supplied with what is known as the nuclear football. A leather-covered titanium business case that weighs 40 pounds, the nuclear football is secured with a cipher lock.

A 'nuclear football' carried by a military aide accompanies the president wherever he goes

The case contains a variety of secure phone capabilities and options for launching nuclear strikes that the president may authorize by talking with the Pentagon.

Ironically, in view of Hillary Clinton's claim that Trump should not have his finger on the nuclear button, it was her husband Bill Clinton who risked nuclear annihilation of America by losing the authentication codes.

At one point during his second term, Secret Service agents tell me, President Clinton managed to lose the plastic authenticator card with the codes he would need to verify his identity to launch nuclear weapons.

In his book Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, retired general Hugh Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that in Clinton's last year in office, his required codes for launching a nuclear strike were missing for months.

'This is a big deal - a gargantuan deal - and we dodged a silver bullet,' Shelton said.

'If our survival depended on launching a preemptive strike, without the president's having [the football and authentication codes], such a strike would be impossible.' Shelton said.

The president authenticates his identity with codes found on a small plastic card he carries with him. In case the president is incapacitated or has died, an identical nuclear football is assigned to the vice president.

In June, Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump 'shouldn't have his finger on the button', referring to a nonexistent 'nuclear button'

If Trump were to be elected president, however, in order to call for a nuclear strike, he would have to open the football, call the Pentagon, identify himself through codes and then authorize a strike

Since President Obama or Vice President Joe Biden would likely have 15 minutes or less to respond to an impending attack from a country like China, Russia or North Korea before the United States could be wiped out by nuclear-tipped missiles, the military aide who carries the satchel is supposed to accompany the two leaders wherever they go.

When they board Air Force One or Air Force Two, the military aide carrying the football can be seen right behind them.

Staying over at hotels, the military aide sleeps in a room adjoining the president's or vice president's room.

When Secret Service agents script an arrival or departure from a hotel or office building, they make sure the military aide rides the elevator with the protectee.

In motorcades, the military aide travels in the vehicle right behind the president's or vice president's limo.

In the event the president or vice president comes under attack during a public appearance, Secret Service agents have standing instructions to evacuate the military aide together with the protectee.

'Whoever has the duty as military aide to the president is responsible for physical custody of the football and ensuring its access to the president 24/7, within a matter of seconds,' says retired Navy vice admiral John Stufflebeem, who was the military aide to President George HW Bush.

He later oversaw the top secret program himself when he was deputy director for global operations assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At one point during his second term, then-President Bill Clinton managed to lose the plastic authenticator card with the codes he would need to verify his identity to launch nuclear weapons, risking nuclear annihilation

Stufflebeem revealed how the nuclear football works for my book The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.

After President Harry Truman ordered the release of the first atomic bomb, President Dwight Eisenhower, as a former general, recognized the need to provide the president with a mechanism for ordering an immediate nuclear retaliatory strike from any location.

Under what is called the National Security System, five military aides rotate the duty of carrying the nuclear football for the president.

The Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, and Coast Guard each assign an aide. Another five military aides take turns traveling with the vice president.

When the president is in the Oval Office, the military aide with the nuclear football remains just outside, ready to rush in if the National Security System signals an alert through phones contained in the football.

At night, the military aide sleeps in workout clothes in an underground bunker at the White House. If an alert comes, he can rush to provide the president with the football in his bedroom at the residence.

The vice president has the same arrangement at his offices in the West Wing and in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and at the vice president's residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory in northwest Washington.

When Barack Obama is in the Oval Office, the military aide remains outside the door with satchel in case the president needed to call for a nuclear strike

In case the president is incapacitated or has died, the vice president - currently Joe Biden - has been assigned an identical nuclear football

Only the president - or if he has died or is incapacitated, the vice president as his constitutional successor - can order the release of nuclear weapons.

The National Military Command Center provides both leaders with an authenticator card with codes that verify the president's or vice president's identity.

Because what is called the Sealed Authentication System is so highly classified, all of the information that has appeared in the press about it has been wrong.

A recent Washington Post article pointed out that the nuclear football contains no button for unleashing a nuclear counterstrike but never explained how the football actually works.

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Contrary to the lore, the football itself does not operate like an ATM, with the president or vice president inserting the authenticator card carried on his person and punching in launch codes to authorize a strike.

Instead, along with written options, the nuclear football contains a secure phone to open up communications with the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon.

During a conference call, the president or vice president reads the codes from the authenticator card to verify his identity.

Military leaders and White House national security advisors then brief the president or vice president on the nature of the threat and the options for retaliating.

When the president or vice president boards Air Force One or Air Force Two, the military aide carrying the football can be seen right behind them

Under what is called the National Security System, five military aides rotate the duty of carrying the nuclear football for the president

'As part of the conference call, the president is told how many seconds or minutes remain if the president would wish to respond, before he might not be able to do so because nuclear weapons will hit the White House or his current location,' Stufflebeem says.

If the president or vice president wants to consult the written options, he may do so.

If he then chooses a retaliatory option or options, his command is read back to him. When he confirms it, the command center uses the military's launch authorization codes to release nuclear missiles.

Every second counts. By the time the command center establishes communication with the president or vice president through the nuclear football, nuclear missiles from a submarine may have already wiped out New York City.

While the country's ballistic missile defense system may counteract other incoming missiles, a retaliatory strike is essential to disable the enemy's military capability and prevent further strikes.

That, in turn, depends on the president and vice president discharging their most important responsibility by making sure the military aide with the football is near them at all times.

The Pentagon does its part by staging regular practice drills to verify that the military aide is able to execute his job of giving the president or vice president immediate access to the football.

Indeed, without the football and the appropriate codes, it 'doesn't matter if we've got a thousand missiles verified inbound to the United States, we would be unable to launch a retaliatory strike', Shelton wrote.